


Christmas Present, Christmas Past, Christmas...Future?

by Selenay



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-12-23
Updated: 2000-12-23
Packaged: 2017-12-15 00:36:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/843268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selenay/pseuds/Selenay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This year's seasonal addition to the site. Christmas is a time for love, family and giving. Can Tara and Willow's gift make two special people see what they've hidden?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Present, Christmas Past, Christmas...Future?

"I give up," Willow announced, flopping back in her chair. "It's impossible."

"What's impossible?" Tara asked, smiling as their half-grown cat pounced on a piece of tinsel.

"Finding presents for Buffy and Giles." Willow sighed. "Weapons for Buffy feel too impersonal and Giles has every book ever written. Ok, maybe not *every* book but you try thinking of one that he hasn't got. They're impossible."

Tara frowned. "I don't really know them very well, yet, but isn't there some music you could get for Buffy? And maybe there's something Englishy you could get for Giles."

Both girls sat deep in thought for a few minutes before sighing and exchanging hopeless expressions.

"It's impossible," Willow confirmed. "They are two of the most stubborn, impossible-to-buy-for, difficult people I know. Xander's easy - find the newest, noisiest toy and he's happy. Even Anya's easier! There has to be something. Why did I leave it until a week before Christmas?"

Tara abandoned the cat, moving to crouch in front of her girlfriend. "You have been kind of busy lately."

"I'm a bad friend."

"No, you're not, you're a great friend. I bet they're having the same problems."

"I doubt it."

"Well, what would Buffy like more than anything else?"

"That's the problem - I don't know! She's not even heartbroken over Riley, and I know a spell that could have got them back together. She's just..." Willow sighed. "Sometimes I think Giles is the only person who actually understands her."

A slow grin began to form on Tara's face. "I think I've got an idea."

 ***

**Christmas Eve**

Buffy stood back and admired her handiwork. Somehow, it was slightly depressing to take on the Santa role this year, but Joyce just was not up to staying up past midnight and she wanted to make Christmas as good as she could for Dawn. It could be the last...

She dismissed that depressing train of thought.  _This is Christmas. A time of joy and good cheer. And this is going to be just like Christmas always is. It doesn't matter that Mom's sick or that Dawn is...whatever she is. We're going to be a family and love each other. I just wish...I wish there was someone for me. Wait, what am I expecting? To find someone in my stocking tomorrow morning? Geeze, I must need sleep more than I thought I did._

Giving the tree one final tweak, Buffy made her way up to her bed.

 ***

Giles looked around his small apartment and sighed. The place seemed depressingly bare now that all the young people had left. He had a small tree in one corner, and a few strands of tinsel trailed across the mantel, but otherwise it betrayed none of the Christmas cheer the rest of the world was indulging in. Willow and Tara were excited to be spending their first Christmas together, Xander and Anya were going to spend their first Christmas out of the basement and even Buffy was looking forward to Christmas with Mrs. Summers and Dawn. Of course, he would be eating lunch with them all at the Summers house but still...

_You're lonely, that's all. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You're forty-five, there is no-one buying special presents with you or planning to wake you at a God-awful hour in the morning - it's just you. Again. To think, I assumed when I was younger that by this stage in my life I'd be married, with maybe a child or two. I have my friends, some very good ones actually, but it's not the same. God, I'm getting depressed in my old age._

Sighing inwardly, Giles made his way to bed.

 ***

Tara tidied up the desk they had been working on and asked, "Do you think they're ready yet?"

Willow looked at the clock, which read one thirty. "They should be. If they're not in bed yet it's just too bad. They'll have to sleep where they are."

Smiling softly, Tara walked to the window with two cups. "You're cute when you get all indignant."

The redhead blushed. "I-I-I, uh...spell?"

"Yeah, spell."

Still smiling, Tara held out one of the cups and Willow took it. Something inside it caught the light, throwing tiny, sparkling lights over both witches' faces. Willow pulled back the curtain and Tara opened the window, allowing a cool breeze in to play with their gently swaying Christmas decorations.

Locking eyes and speaking as one, they said,

 

> "With this offering,  
> May they find their peace.  
> Wind and Earth,  
> Fire and Light.  
> Call them together,  
> On this night."

 

Slowly, carefully, they held their cups out of the window and tipped them. A stream of sparkling, glowing golden powder poured from Tara's cup and an equally shimmering green powder poured from Willow's. The streams looked like powdered gemstones, although they both glowed with inner fire.

Almost as though it had been planned (and it might have been, who knows?) a gust of wind caught the glittering powders and mixed them together. Both girls watched as the fine particles swirled in the air for a moment and then separated into two streams, heading out across the town.

Silently they shut the window and Tara crawled into bed as Willow sat down next to her. For a moment the blonde girl watched her lover nervously pick at the bedspread.

Eventually she looked up. "Are we doing the right thing?"

Tara considered the question carefully, as the redhead knew she would, before giving her answer. "I'm sure. It's something they would have found out anyway, we're just giving them a helping hand. I-I don't think it would be good if we waited and something h-happened to them before they could find out."

Reassured, Willow smiled at Tara. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being you."

Tara blushed and stuttered for a moment, before managing to say, "I-I-I think I'm the lucky one."

"Are you ready?" Willow asked.

The blonde girl nodded and shifted over slightly to allow her partner to climb in beside her. Willow immediately snuggled down with her head on Tara's shoulder and sighed happily.

"Good night," she said sleepily.

Tara looked at the single candle that lit the room and, after a second, it guttered and went out. "Good night."

 ***

The house on Revello Drive was silent and still; nothing was stirring, not even a mouse. Upstairs, in her bedroom the Slayer slept. Her window, open by just a crack, let in a soft night breeze. Moonlight shone through the windows, bathing the girl in silver, and she slept the sleep of the emotionally exhausted.

The wind outside increased fractionally and a sound, almost like distant wind chimes, was carried in on the breeze. A wisp of golden light drifted through the open window, and then a wisp of green, and then it intensified until a stream of glittering, glowing gold and green dust was pushing through the window. It swirled and eddied in the middle of the room until it softly floated down on the sleeping Slayer.

The last few tendrils of dust floated down onto the blonde girl and she stirred, twitching her nose, before drifting back into a deep sleep.

 ***

The windows in Giles' apartment were closed tightly against the chilly winter breeze. Normally Southern California was warmer than the Englishman liked, but tonight the wind was coming from the North, bringing with it an unusual chill and the faint, unmistakable smell of snow.

In the living room, a faint jingling sound floated through the room. The wind outside increased, whistling around the walls and rattling the roof. A faint glow appeared under the front door as glittering green and gold dust squeezed through the narrow crack. A stream of the dust pulled itself through and swirled in a confused little twister in the middle of the room before finding its target. Then the glowing mass wafted towards the loft and the loft's occupant.

Gently, it eddied and pulsed before softly falling on the sleeping man in the bed. He twitched, rubbed his nose, but then fell back into a deep sleep. As the light from the moon peaked through the window, it fell on a glittering, sleeping man and almost seemed to wink at him.

 ***

Buffy walked through a door from her dream about the old library and found herself somewhere completely new. This was not a place she recognised and she stiffened suspiciously, before relaxing when she realised that nothing seemed wrong. It just seemed...different.

She stood in a living room, but it was a style she only recognised from photos and old movies. Mismatched chairs and sofas surrounded an open fire burning merrily in a grate. Christmas decorations bedecked the walls, but they were far more restrained than the ones she had put up a few hours ago. Rather than expensive ornaments and strings of bright fairy lights, the walls were covered with paper streamers and shiny, homemade stars. A Christmas tree stood in the corner, away from the fire, and it was covered with an array of shiny baubles, probably glass, and thin strings of glittering tinsel. A few coloured lights peeked out of the branches and someone had made a couple of little felt robins. The wallpaper and colour scheme of the room made Buffy shudder - someone should tell the owners that brown on brown went out in the sixties.

A noise from a corner made Buffy start and she tensed again, looking around to find out who else was in the room with her. A boy sat in a chair facing the fire, hidden by the high back until she moved slightly, with a huge book across his legs. His hair was dark blonde, slightly curly, with tufts sticking up where he had run his hands through it several times. He looked around eleven or twelve and behind the thick-rimmed glasses his eyes were a startling shade of green. For some reason, this boy looked strangely familiar to Buffy although was sure she had never seen him before.

Somewhere outside the room a door slammed open and Buffy heard shouting.

"Mary! Mary! Come and help me! She's been...oh, god, she's...I need some help here! Mary!" a strange man's voice shouted.

It was unmistakably English and again Buffy had that odd sense of déjà vu, as though she had heard it before but slightly different.

Heavy steps came down the hall outside, occasionally stumbling as though unsure of where they were going. Upstairs there came the sounds of someone rushing around, opening and closing closets, and then the lounge door opened.

For a moment Buffy was stunned into immobility. The man walking through the door, carrying a large bundle in his arms, was Giles! But at the same time it was not. Giles' hair only had a few silver hairs, rather than liberal streaks, and his eyes were green rather than blue. She looked from the older man to the boy in the chair and suddenly realised what she was seeing.

"That's right," a voice said behind her.

Buffy spun around to find Tara standing behind her.

"You're seeing Giles the Christmas after he was told about his destiny. That's his father and the Slayer of the time, Louisa," Tara added, nodding to where the older Mr. Giles was carefully putting his precious cargo down beside the fire. "What happened here changed him forever."

"What's happening? Why am I here?" Buffy asked curiously.

Tara shook her head and pointed back to scene in the lounge. "Watch."

Mr. Giles Sr. now had the blankets covering Louisa open and she could see the blood stained patches on her clothing. There were cuts and scratches all over her body and a pool of blood was already forming around her. Buffy could see without question that the girl would not survive the night even with Slayer healing.

The older Watcher pressed scraps of cloth to some of the bleeding cuts and bellowed, "Mary! Hurry!"

A woman bustled into the lounge, almost hidden by a pile of towels, bandages, and bottles. Her black hair was speckled with silver and she had green, careworn eyes. Buffy smiled to see those familiar eyes; she could easily see where most of her Giles' features came from. Mrs. Giles put the stack of equipment down next to the Slayer and Mr. Giles immediately reached out and grabbed some bandages to use as compresses on the deepest cuts.

"Rupert, come over here," the Watcher ordered peremptorily as his wife rushed out of the room again.

Slowly, reluctantly, Rupert Giles climbed down from his chair and stood by his father. The older man took one of his hands and placed it over a blood-soaked bandage, releasing him to quickly begin preparing another. Mrs. Giles walked back into the room holding a large basin of steaming water, which she placed next to her husband. Working together with the ease of long-familiarity the couple bathed and tended the wounds but it was no good. The young Slayer's breathing was becoming weak and laboured, her chest barely fluttering.

Buffy watched as their attempts to stem the bleeding became more desperate and young Giles watched his parents with barely concealed horror. Then came the moment they had been dreading, when the girl-child gave up her hold on life and the older Watcher let out a howl of despair. He gathered Louisa's broken body into his arms and wept silently, too overcome by grief to care about anything around him.

Mary put a blood-covered hand on her son's shoulder and quietly led him away from the room.

"Why are you showing me this?" Buffy asked, tears choking her voice.

"So you understand," Tara replied, and gestured.

The living room around Buffy receded until it was a mere pinprick of light in the distance and then she was falling.

 ***

Slowly, blackness faded into light and then, in a rush that left him gasping, Giles found himself standing in the Summers' lounge. The room was decorated with bright, glittering tinsel and streamers, tinsel and greenery edging every picture and shelf in the room. Pride of place was left for the Christmas tree, a six-footer than released a delicious sent of pine into the room. It was also bedecked with tinsel, baubles, hundreds of tiny white fairy lights, and an old-fashioned angel crowned it. Dreaming about the room was odd, because Buffy had only decorated a few hours ago and he had not been to the house to see it yet. He frowned slightly, before deciding that he must have imagined what the room would look like.

Footsteps approached down the hall, and after a moment he could make out the sounds of two people speaking quietly. It was easy to recognise the two voices - Mrs. Summers' was unforgettable once you'd been on the receiving end of a lecture from her and Buffy's...well, he could pick that voice out of a crowd of thousands, all shouting.

"Are you sure you don't mind doing all this?" Mrs. Summers asked.

"Of course not, mom," Buffy said as the two women entered the room. They both ignored Giles and carried on their conversation.

"But it's so much work and I feel useless not being able to help..."

"Mom, it's fine. There isn't much to do. Dawn and I decorated, I'm on turkey duty tomorrow and everyone is bringing part of the lunch. There's not really all that much to do." Buffy grinned. "I finally learnt the value of organisation and delegation."

Mrs. Summers reached out and smoothed a lock of blonde hair behind Buffy's ear. "I know sweetheart, it's just that I...I can't help feeling useless. You should be out with your friends, having fun, not looking after us."

"I do that plenty. But this is Christmas and Christmas is about family. And think how disappointed Dawn would be if we didn't do this." She smiled reassuringly. "This is going to be a great Christmas."

"Thank you, sweetie. Are you sure-"

"Mom, it's late so you should be going to be. And quit worrying - tomorrow is gonna be great."

Mrs. Summers searched her daughter's eyes wordlessly for a moment before sighing and kissing her forehead.

"My brave Buffy. You've grown so fast."

"That's what people do, grow, and then we get to take care of the people we love."

Walking to the door, Mrs. Summers paused and looked back. "Good night. Sweet dreams."

Buffy kept a cheerful smile on her face until she was sure her mother was safely upstairs and then it melted and, as it did so, she seemed to shrink. She looked around and Giles could see tears in her eyes as she surveyed her cheerful room.

"Sometimes she's not as strong as we all think," came Willow's voice behind him.

He spun around and found the redheaded witch standing a few feet away, smiling sadly at her friend.

"What do you mean?" Giles asked, startled. "What's going on?"

A quick smile brightened Willow's face. "I'm showing you some things you need to see. Then you'll understand. She can't do this alone, any more than you can, and what she's dealing with now is more than she has ever had to face before."

"I know that," Giles said, looking back to where Buffy was now slowly pulling presents out of bags and putting them under the tree. "Sometimes the fate of the world is a lighter burden than the fate of your loved ones."

"You understand her better than any of us," said Willow.

"I doubt it."

The redheaded girl shook her head and smiled mysteriously before gesturing.

The scene before him faded away and went as black at the night sky, dotted with tiny bright lights like stars. Abruptly, he felt himself falling.

 ***

"How's it going?" Willow asked breathlessly.

"Buffy's starting to think, I think," Tara said, smiling.

"That's great! I think Giles is beginning to see, maybe, that she needs him after all so..." Willow crossed her fingers.

Tara grinned and nodded.

"Ready for the grand finale?" Willow asked.

The blonde witch nodded and quickly kissed her lover, before holding onto her hand and closing her eyes.

 ***

Abruptly, the falling sensation ended and Buffy landed on something with a jolt. She landed hard on her knees and gritted her teeth, willing the stars in her eyes from the jarring landing to disappear. When her vision cleared she stood and looked around, puzzled, before turning to Tara.

"What am I doing here?" she asked curiously.

"You'll see," Tara told her, smiling mysteriously.

"You're really enjoying this enigmatic thing, aren't you?"

This time Tara's grin was full of mischief. "It's kind of fun."

 ***

As suddenly as it had begun, Giles felt the falling sensation end and he landed on a hard surface with a thud. His teeth felt as though they rattled in his head and his arms stiffened from the impact as he landed.

"Ow," he complained steadily, willing the pain to go away.

Surprisingly, or maybe not considering what had already happened, the pain did go away and he straightened up to see where he was.

"Why am I here?" he asked, puzzled.

"Wait and see," Willow said from behind him, smiling as her eyes met Tara's.

 ***

It looked like Giles' apartment, but at the same it didn't. The colour scheme had changed and his books, instead of being on shelves near the ground, now occupied high shelves with the lower ones reserved for toys and big picture books. The furniture was the same, but there was a new armchair in one corner and the TV was a big wide-screen one rather than the tiny little thing he had right now. Grinning slightly, Buffy realised that it looked exactly the way she had imagined it would if she were ever allowed to redecorate.

Then her grin froze as, with a sense of stunned disbelief, she watched herself emerge from the kitchen carrying a bag of presents. The her that was not her (a thought that took a moment to process in her confused mind) knelt down in front of a brightly lit Christmas tree and started to lay out the presents.

After a few minutes of observation, Buffy realised that the girl she was watching was not exactly like her. It felt like her, but little details were different. Her hair was slightly longer, although only by a couple of inches, and her face looked older. There were no lines, and it was only by a few years, but the eyes in her face looked more mature and there was an inner peace reflected there that Buffy had never been able to feel.

_I wonder what happened to me?_  she asked herself.

"That's right, this may not happen for a few years," Tara said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

Tara frowned slightly as she tried to explain. "This is only a possibility. There are other ones, but...if you do something now, this is the future you might have."

"That's not really much help, you know," Buffy protested.

"I'm sorry, but that's all I can tell you."

 ***

Giles watched the scene unfolding before him, wondering inside how it was happening and trying not to think about the reason it could be happening. It was an idea he had been suppressing so long he was not even sure how to release it anymore.

Movement in the hall beyond the kitchen caught his attention, and a moment later Giles watched himself walk happily out of the hall, sneak up on Buffy and snake his arms around her waist. She giggled, evidently not shocked by the action, and turned to face the older Giles.

"Did you get him off to sleep?" she asked, love shining out of her eyes.

"It took a couple of readings of 'The Night Before Christmas', but he's out like a light," the older man told her, smiling down into her happy face. "He promised to be up even earlier than last year."

Buffy sighed and grimaced, but the joy in her face could not be hidden. "I guess we'd better go to bed now if we want any sleep before that then."

Giles watched in wonder as the older version of him bent his head and kissed Buffy deeply and she responded equally as passionately. The hope that suddenly sprang to life inside him was like a warm flame, comforting and frightening at once, and threatened to consume him with its intoxicating promise.

 ***

The scene in front of Buffy felt so foreign and at the same time incredibly right. Why?

The older Buffy drew away, leaning back to nip once at her Giles' chin, before saying, "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not really tired yet. And we can sleep on Boxing Day, can't we?"

Giles' answering smile lit up the room, and watcher-Buffy decided that she had to make him do that more often - it was beautiful.

"We can, love," he agreed, kissing her forehead.

Older Buffy pulled away and took his hand, tugging him towards the staircase and he followed willingly.

"Now do you see?" Tara asked quietly.

"I-I think so," Buffy said slowly, watching the hope springing onto her Giles' face.

 ***

"Is this actually possible?" Giles asked Willow.

"Of course. In fact, it's probable. Do you see, now?"

"Yes, I do," he replied, returning Buffy's encouraging smile.

"Good."

Willow flashed Tara a triumphant grin and clapped her hands. Abruptly, the world disappeared into white light.

 ***

**Christmas Morning**

Buffy squinted as the light from the window hit her eyes when she opened them. It seemed incredibly bright outside and she lay still for a moment, trying to make sense of the odd dreams she remembered. Then she bolted upright as she remembered them properly.

_Oh god..._

She leapt out of bed and pulled on her robe against the chilly air. It was early enough that Dawn, never an early riser even on Christmas morning, was not up and she dashed downstairs. At the foot of the stairs she paused, trying to work out why she was in such a rush to get up. Admittedly, yes, she needed to talk to Giles but a cup of coffee would give her time to work out what she wanted to say.

Plan decided, she went into the kitchen and started up the coffee maker before returning to the lounge and turning on the Christmas lights. The room was oddly bright, despite the curtains, and she cocked her head before shrugging and opening them.

The light was so bright it almost blinded her and she had to blink her tearing eyes before she could make out anything. Buffy gasped in shock to see the street outside covered in a blanket of brilliant, white snow.

The snow was still falling slowly, softly and through the falling flakes she could make out the shape of someone standing on the path is if unable to make up his mind whether he wanted to come in. Buffy knew immediately who it was and she smiled to see him waiting there. Without hesitating this time, she went to the front door and opened it.

"Get in here before you freeze to death," she ordered, shivering as the icy wind tugged at her light robe. "Or I do."

Giles looked up hopefully to see her standing in the doorway, snow settling in her blonde hair and her nose turning pink from the cold. She was beautiful and she seemed happy to see him. He walked up the path.

"I-I wasn't sure..."

"That I'd want to see you?" Buffy asked. "You remember too?"

He nodded.

"Of course I want to see you. I could never not want to see you." She stood back to allow him to brush past her into the house. "You're a part of me."

Giles stopped and looked down into her face, searching it. Apparently satisfied, he closed the door behind him.

"What did you see?" he asked, curiously.

Buffy dropped her eyes and then looked back at him. "I saw you...I saw you the Christmas after your father told you about the Watchers. I saw...Louisa."

Pain clouded the Watcher's eyes. "I...you...that wasn't something I ever wanted you to know about."

"Hey, it's alright," Buffy said softly. "I understand you now. I know why you trained me so hard, why you pushed me away, why you always seemed to be trying to make me fight better, harder, longer - I understand it."

"Father shut down after that. He wasn't the same. I was afraid that if I became attached to you that would happen again." Giles traced her face with the tips of his fingers. "It's too late though. I can't live without you now. You stole my heart."

She held his hand against his cheek. "I'll keep it safe on one condition."

He held his breath.

"Look after mine?" she asked.

For an answer Giles bent his head and kissed her.

 ***

Willow woke up slowly, safe and warm in Tara's arms. She could feel her lover's slow breaths and steady heartbeat under her ear and smiled contentedly. She was just drifting off when she felt something land on her stomach, forcing the breath out of her with a pained 'oof'. Moments later, the kitten crept up her chest and began licking her nose.

"Get off," she whispered, scrunching up her nose.

"Mauw?" the cat queried, running her rough tongue over her adopted mother's cheek.

"Yes, now," Willow told her, trying not to wake up Tara. "Please, kitty?"

"Prrrup," the little cat chirped and lay down - across Willow's face.

She sighed and reached up to pull the cat away, before sitting up so she could deposit her on the floor. Tara shifted and began to wake up.

"Sorry," Willow said quietly. "You can go to sleep now."

"It's ok, I'm awake now," Tara said huskily, opening her eyes. "Merry Christmas."

"Good morning and Merry Christmas," Willow replied before leaning down to kiss her girlfriend softly. "I think we need to explain to Miss Kitty about lie-ins on non-college mornings."

"I don't think she'd understand and anyway - it's Christmas," Tara said with a grin. "Nobody sleeps on Christmas morning."

"They don't?"

"Nope. It's tradition. You wake up, open lots of presents and then watch the sun come up while all the people over thirty complain."

"Huh. At Hanukkah we do presents in the evening."

"You have more patience than most children."

"But there are eight days of presents," Willow told her, grinning.

Tara paused, weighing up her options. "I still prefer one day of overwhelming excitement and hyperactive funness."

"Sounds...oh! Buffy and Giles!" Willow exclaimed, remembering finally why she was so sleepy this morning. "Do you think it worked?"

"The spell itself worked. But the rest...I don't know."

"Then lets go and find out," the redheaded witch demanded, throwing off the covers and letting a blast of chilly air rush over both of them. "Or maybe we could stay h-here."

Tara sat up and put her arms around her shivering girlfriend. "I must have forgotten to turn the heating on last night."

"Th-this isn't natural. Not here, anyway."

Steeling herself, Willow stood and walked over to the window. Throwing open the curtains she gasped at the sight of the still falling, white snow that now covered everything.

"Oh, boy," she whispered as she felt Tara approach and wrap her arms around her waist. "Oh boy, oh boy."

"Snow," the blonde girl pointed out softly.

"Yeah. This is not a good thing."

"Why not? Snow is fun. We could make snowballs and build a fort. Or maybe a snowman."

"Anytime it snows here it means something evil and Hellmouthy happened."

Tara turned her look in her face and paled as she saw the seriousness on it. "Maybe we should..."

"Go to Buffy's? Yeah, that sounds good."

 ***

As Tara and Willow approached the house, noses red from the cold and with several damp spots from an impromptu snowball fight (after all, this was Southern California and they did not want to waste a rare opportunity) they were concerned to hear shouting and shrieking from the back garden. Exchanging a quick glance, they broke into a run and rushed towards the sound.

"No! Don't! Stop!" they heard Buffy shout.

"I give in!" Dawn yelled.

They rounded the corner in time to see Giles lob a snowball towards a snow-fort, hitting Dawn on the shoulder.

"Ooh, you're for it now," Dawn vowed and began packing snow into a ball of her own.

"Promises, promises," Giles said, laughing.

A snowman with a carrot for a nose stood in the corner and the snow, several feet thick in places, was covered with footprints that were already filling in with the snow that still fell. Buffy crawled out from behind the snow-fort and threw a snowball at Giles. It landed smack in his face and she jumped up, shrieking with jubilation. He gave a roar (a sound Willow had never heard before) and ran at her, tackling her to the ground.

It was only because Tara and Willow were watching the pair closely that they saw him steal a quick kiss while he had her pinned to the ground. Then Dawn was shoving snow down the neck of his jacket before being tackled to the ground and tickled mercilessly by the Slayer and her Watcher.

The two witches exchanged happy glances and rushed to join in the fun.

THE END.


End file.
